Magill: Butler is prideful of a Lion

Posted: Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Dan

Magill

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Kevin Butler is certainly proud of many place-kicking records he set during his four years at Georgia (1981-4) and 13 years in the NFL (11 with the Chicago Bears and two with the Arizona Cardinals). He's also the only place-kicker in the National Collegiate Hall of Fame.

But these days, he's a mighty proud parent. His son, Drew, starred in Peachtree Ridge's 13-7 victory over Warner Robins High Saturday night in a Class AAAAA semifinal game in the Georgia Dome.

Drew kicked two field goals (27 and 33 yards), and was equally impressive with his punting and long kickoffs (four of five went into the end zone and were not returnable).

A 6-foot-3, 215-pound senior, Drew is slightly bigger than his dad, who was 6-2, 195 in his playing days.

Drew wears No. 13 on his jersey. His dad wore No. 5 at Georgia and No. 6 with the Bears.

In an interview with Kevin Monday, I asked him why Drew wore No. 13, and he replied:

"My dad (Joseph Butler) wore No. 13 when he was a halfback at Benedictine Prep in Savannah and I wore No. 13 when I played soccer at Redan High."

Incidentally, Kevin was a defensive back and place-kicker on Redan High's 1979 Class AAA state championship team.

Kevin holds the SEC record for the most field goals greater than 50 yards, and he still holds the record for longest field goal at Georgia. He nailed a 60-yarder against Clemson in 1984 with only 11 seconds on the clock that won the game, 26-23.

Kevin says his first thought of someday playing for Georgia came when he was a boy in Tucker playing Little League football and his coach was Larry Rakestraw, one of Georgia's greatest quarterbacks and later a star with the Chicago Bears.

Kevin married his college sweetheart, the former Cathy Clements, a former Bulldogs cheerleader. Both are graduates of Georgia's Terry College of Business. In addition to Drew, they also have two daughters: Scarlett, 19, currently a freshman at Georgia majoring in fashion merchandising and Savannah, 15, a sophomore at Peachtree Ridge.

All the Butlers will be together in the stands this coming Saturday night cheering for Peachtree Ridge against Roswell in the State Class AAAAA finals hosted by McEachern.

And, all of them but Kevin will be in the Georgia Dome Saturday night Dec. 30 cheering for the Bulldogs against Virginia Tech in the Chick-Fil-A Bowl.

Kevin will be in Baghdad, Iraq, with former Chicago Bears' quarterback Jim McMahon and other celebrities.

They will entertain U.S. troops during the Christmas holidays as part of the U.S. government's Stars for Stripes program.

Some day soon it would be most appropriate if all the Butlers were in Sanford Stadium cheering for Drew Butler.